Muslim advocacy group threatened on Patriot Prayer page

A local advocacy group for Muslim Americans has alerted the authorities after seeing a threat on a social media page used by the right-wing activists known as Patriot Prayer.

A person with the username Sean Fries posted "Can't we just go burn down all the offices CAIR has?" on the @PatriotPrayerUSA Facebook page on Saturday, Nov. 3.

"CAIR is a terrorist front group period end of story and their days are soon coming to an end the veil is being lifted and the evil is going to be exposed," Fries wrote in another comment.

CAIR — whose Oregon chapter is based in Portland — stands for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The web comment had been deleted by Sunday.

"Given all the recent hate attacks and threats targeting minority communities nationwide, it is incumbent on local, state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate this apparent call to violence against a civil rights organization," said Zakir Khan, an organizer and spokesman for CAIR.

Firing back on their own social media page, Patriot Prayer wrote that a "large national Muslim rights group" was targeting a "small Northwest Christian group."

"CAIR is promoting that we CAUSE the violence when we are attacked by Antifa in Portland," a Patriot Prayer member called KT wrote. "Whenever we hold an event and Antifa does not show, it is not violent, but fun and inspirational."

This is only the latest altercation involving Patriot Prayer and CAIR, which lead a successful campaign to remove a fundraising campaign by the conservatives from the website Giving Fuel earlier this month.

Patriot Prayer's funding pitch disappeared from the web on Nov. 2.

"Thank you to everyone who has reached out to us regarding our well-being. It's thoroughly appreciated." CAIR tweeted. "We take these threats seriously."

On its website, CAIR wrote that it had contacted the Oregon State Police and Portland Police Bureau.